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District of Columbia resident Haider Ali, 36, admitted this week to charges stemming from a scheme in which he pretended to be a federal law enforcement officer for a range of purposes, the Department of Justice announced.
The impersonation scheme allowed Ali to maintain a series of apartments in which he then failed to pay rent, officials said.
He also admitted carrying out a bank fraud scheme in which he obtained more than $1 million and used his false law enforcement credentials to pressure individuals recruited to the scam.
Prosecutors said that Ali and Arian Taherzadeh, 40, also of Washington, DC, operated a business called United States Special Police LLC, which was described as a private law enforcement, investigative, and protective service based in Washington.
While running that business, the pair represented themselves to law enforcement as investigators or special agents who were a part of Homeland Security, despite having no affiliation with the US government, nor having done any business with federal or DC governments.
Ali also falsely claimed he was a member of the US Secret Service, making several lofty allegations, including that he participated in the capture of the wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, that his family had a royal bloodline, and that he had a connection to a senior official in the Pakistani Intelligence Service.
Meanwhile, Taherzadeh falsely claimed to be, among other things, a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security, a member of a multi-jurisdictional federal task force, a former United States Air Marshal, and a former Army Ranger.
According to prosecutors, both men used those false claims to recruit others to join their “task force” or “unit,” which these individuals believed to be part of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement.
To advance the scheme, Ali and Taherzadeh "ingratiated themselves with employees of the US Secret Service because it provided them with cover and aided in their scheme.”
Using their phony personas, Ali and Taherzadeh and the faux business were able to maintain leases for multiple apartments and parking spaces for a supposed law enforcement operation at a luxury apartment complex in Southeast Washington.
The units included a penthouse where Ali and Taherzadeh possessed, among other things, a Glock handgun registered to Ali that was loaded with a large-capacity ammunition feeding device, surveillance equipment, law enforcement tactical gear, and a machine capable of programming Personal Identification Verification (PIV) cards used to create false credentials.
They also used their false identification with law enforcement to obtain security footage in the building as well as a list of the building’s residents as well as their apartment numbers and contact information.
During the scheme, officials noted that no rent was paid on the leased apartments or parking garages. This resulted in a loss to the building of $306,987 and to the garage of $7,854.
Officials made note that between May 2017 and March 2021, Ali also engaged in a bank fraud scheme that net him more than $1 million from financial institutions by using bank accounts that he and others maintained and controlled to fraudulently execute debit and credit card transactions.
Specifically, Ali pleaded guilty to:
- Conspiracy;
- Bank fraud;
- Unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device.
As part of his plea, officials said that Ali is expected to be sentenced to between 63 and 78 months in prison in February 2023.
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